Packing machine



Sept. 3, 1940.

G. D. HORGAN 2,213,860

PACKING MACHINE Filed Aug. 17, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR GEORGE D. HORGAN ATTORNE Sept. 3, 1940.

G. D. HORGAN PACKING MACHINE Filed Aug. 1'7, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR GEORGE D. HORGAN ATTORNEY Sept. 3, 1940. e. D. HORGAN PACKING MACHINE Filed Aug. 17, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 lllllrmwlllm Ill! l llLL un rhh L. INVENTOR GEORGE D.HORGAN ATTORNEY Sept. 3, 1940. G. D. Hm, 22135 PACKING MACHINE Filed Aug. 17, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR GEORGE D.HORGAN dYW W ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 3, 1940 UNITED STATE OFFICE PACKING MACHINE Application August 1'7, 1938, Serial No. 225,327 In Great Britain August 19, 1937 6 Claims.

This invention relates to packing machines of the type in which the articles such as cigarettes are packed in slide and shell cartons.

More particularly the invention 'is concerned with the parts of the machine by which a slide containing the articles is inserted within a shell, and the completed packet is ejected from the machine.

According to the invention an erected shell is moved on to a mouthpiece by a reciprocating pusher and a filled slide is then inserted by an oppositely moving pusher, the shell being retained on the mouthpiece during the insertion of a filled slide by a cam controlled abutment.

The completed packet is preferably removed from the discharge position by a lateral movement imparted to it by a transverse conveyor device having driving dogs.

The discharged packets may be received upon a pivotally mounted flap by which they are de livered to a stack.

The stacking flap may be controlled by a faulty packet mechanism so that it is prevented from returning when a faulty packet reaches the discharge position whereby such packet when moved laterally is rejected downwardly.

Further features of invention will be hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figures 1a and 1b together form a plan illustrating the invention as applied to a rotary table cigarette packing machine,

Figures 2a and 2b together form an elevation corresponding thereto,

Figures 3 and 4 are end views of the shell pusher mechanism,

Figures 5 and 6 are views of the packet discharging means.

In carrying the invention into effect accord- 40 ing to one convenient mode by way of example.

as applied to a rotary table cigarette packing machine wherein the slide is supported upon and moved from station to station by an annular ring element or table Ill, a shell feed unit indicated generally in Figure l by the reference SF is disposed radially of the table so and comprises a magazine (not shown) for collapsed shells from which the shells are fed successively to shell erecting means by which the shell is erected and positioned in the path of a reciprocating pusher element I I adapted to be moved radially with respect to the table l5. The shell erecting means may be of any suitable form and conveniently may be constructed and operated as described in British specification No. 466,177.

The shell pusher comprises a plate l2 adapted to lie over the erected shell and having a downwardly projecting surface or wall l3 adapted to engage the upper edge of the shell. The pusher is adjustably secured to a bar I41 so that it may be adjusted vertically, the bar being secured to a reciprocating slide i 5. The slide I5 is mounted and guided in the mounting l6 and is connected by a link ill to a pivoted lever 18 adapted to be oscillated by a crank disc l9 to which it is coupled by a link 29. The wall element I3 is adjustably mounted upon the pusher l l.

The connection of the lever E3 to the slide I5 is such that it may readily be disconnected to retract the slide in the event of the packet being jammed. Thus the link H is pivotally connected to block 2i which is secured to the slide l5 so that it may move along the slot 22. Normally the block 2! is locked against such movement by a pivoted catch 23 carried by the slide l5. The catch 23 is coupled by a rod 24 to a pivoted plate 25 carried by the bar I4. When it is desired to disconnect the lever l8 from the slide l5, the plate 25 is rotated by the handle, Zii clockwise as seen in Figure 2 whereupon the catch 23 is lifted and the block 2! then moves idly in the slot 22.

The catch 23 is retained in either position by an over-center spring 26.

The shell pusher I! is adapted to feed the erected shells on to a mouthpiece element 28 comprising a number of flexible springs and through which the fill-ed slides are adapted to be delivered.

The ejection of the filled slides from the pockets 29 of the rotary table I B is efiected by a reciprocating pusher 30 which is mounted to movein alignment with the shell pusher, i. e., radially with respect to the table.

The slide pusher is mounted upon a guided slide bar 3| which is conveniently actuated by a crank disc 32 driven by any suitable mechanism and rotated about a vertical axis. The slide bar 3| is connected to the crank disc 32 by a coupling link 33. V

When a shell is positioned upon the mouthpiece 28 the slide pusher 30 is actuated to eject a filled slide from the table, which has been moved to the appropriate position, and move it through the mouthpiece into the shell.

During this operation the shell is prevented from moving ofi the mouthpiece by a catch or abutment 34 which moves up behind the shell as the latter is fed on to the mouthpiece.

The abutment 34 is carried by the arm 35 of a lever 36 which is adapted to be actuated by a cam 31 engaging a roller 38 carried by a link 39 to which the lever 36 is pivotally connected. The link 39 is slotted at 46 to receive a block ll on the cam shaft 42. A spring 43 holds the roller 36 in contact with the cam 31.

The cam 31 is shaped to provide a second dwell period during which the lever 36 occupies a position in which a second projection or abutment 44 is adapted to hold the filled packet in a position for discharge. The packet is moved to this position during the final movement of the slide pusher 36 during which the shell is removed from the mouthpiece.

The relative heights of' the abutments 34 and 44 are such that when the abutment M is in the operative position, the abutment 34 lies beneath the plane of the packet. v y

It is to be noted that adjacent the mouthpiece 28 apair of guide walls 45, 46 is providedfor guiding the shell and one of these walls 66 is removable for allowing the completed packet to be removed from the discharge position in a lateral direction, 1. e., in a direction at right angles to its previous movements.

.- This removable wall 46 is mounted upon a pivoted arm 4'! which is adapted to be raised to move the wall out of the path of the packet. The pivoted arm 47 is actuated by a lever 48 which is connected to a rock shaftupon which the arm is secured, said lever being coupled to a link 49 which carries a roller 50 engaged by a rotary cam The walls 65 and 56 are both adjustable to suit the size of packet.

Removal of the completed packet from the discharge position is effected by an endless sprocket .chain 52 which carries driving dogs'53 for engaging the packets and moving them laterally on to a stacking element comprising a pivotal flap 56, which in its receiving position lies horizontal.

The pivoted flap 54 receives the completed packets successively and delivers them to a horizontal stack 55 from which they are removed from time to time by the operator.

The flap 5 1 is mounted upon a bell crank lever 56 which is connected by a link 5'! to another bell crank lever 58, 59, thearm 58 of which carries a roller 60 in engagement with a rotary cam 61 by the flap.

The means for temporarily preventing the return 'of the flap 54 may comprise a pivoted hook element 62 adapted to move into engagement with a projection 63 on the arm 59 of the bell crank lever 58, 59 so that the latter will be held against return until released by the cam 6i, the

arrangement being such that when the hook lies in the path of the pin 63, a partial return of the lever 59 is made which brings the pin 63 into the hook. Upon the next rotation of the cam 6 I, the lever arm 59 is pressed down, moving the pin away from the hook, which latter then returns to its normal full-line spring biased position shown in Fig. 6. I

The hook 62 may be controlled by a rotary faulty packet control device as described in Britishapplication No. 21376/ 36 and comprising a roe tary disc-64 having displaceable pins 65 adapted to be projected, on detection of a faulty packet, to lie in the path of a detent 66 formed on a lever Bl. The lever 61 carries a roller 68 engaging the arm 69 of the hook element 62.

Should a pin 65 be in the projected position, it will strike the detent 66 and cause the hook 62 to move into the path of the projection 63, the latter in the meantime having been lowered consequent upon the transference of a packet by the flap 54.

The various moving parts are driven by suitable driving means so that the movements of the parts are synchronized.

The rotary table may be of the character described in British specification No. 466,176, but this illustrative example of a rotary table is not intended to exclude the use of other known or otherwise suitable conveyor devices.

Where the rotary table it] is adapted for a duplex machine a second slide pusher element is provided and located on the line .r-:r for feeding the filled slides from an adjacent slide holder on the table. This second slide pusher comprises a guided slide bar I69 carrying a pusher head and is adapted to be reciprocated from the first slide pusher by providing racks 16,. on the inner sides of the guided slide bars 3! and 169 and arranging a pair of meshing gears l2, 13 between such slide bar racks whereby the reciprocations of both slide pushers will be obtained from the same crank disc 32. I

I claim:

1. In a packing machine of the type described, a mouthpiece, a crank actuated pusher device for feeding an erected shell onto said mouthpiece, an oppositely disposed crank actuated pusher device for feeding a filled slide through the mouthpiece into said shell, mechanism including a cam and an abutment controlled by said cam for holding the shell onto the mouthpiece during insertion of the slide, and mechanism for actuating said cam and pusher devices in timed relation.

2. A packing machine of the type described, comprising a crank actuated pusher device for feeding an erected shell on to a mouthpiece, an oppositely disposed crank actuated device for feeding a filled slide through the mouthpiece into the shell, a cam controlled abutment for holding the shell on the mouthpiece during the feeding of the slide, and a second abutment controlled by said cam for locating the filled packet away from the mouthpiece in a position for discharge.

3. A packing machine of the type described as claimed in claim 2, wherein provision is made of an endless travelling chain having driving dogs for engaging the packets, and said chain is constructed and arranged to discharge the completed packets successively in a direction at right angles to the movement of the pusher devices.

4. In a packing machine of the type described, having the features claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for feeding an erected shell on to said mouthpiece comprises, a reciprocated side, a shell pushermounted on said slide, a crank, a lever oscillated by the crank, and a releasable connection between the lever and slide, whereby the slide may be moved irrespective of the lever in case of jamming of shells on the mouthpiece.

5. A packing machine of the type described having the features claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for feeding an erected shell onto said mouthpiece comprises, a reciprocated slide provided with a slot, a lever oscillated by the crank, and in which the lever is provided with a block located in said slot, releasable means being pro- Vided for holding the block at one end of the slot during normal Working.

6. A packing machine of the type described, comprising a rotary table having peripheral holding means for filled slides, said means being arranged in alternate series, a radially arranged shell feed unit co-operating with one set of pockets, a second radially arrangedshell feed unit co-operating with the other series of pockets,

said units having crank actuated pusher means for feeding erected shells to positions for receiving filled slides, oppositely disposed pusher means for feeding filled slides from the pockets into the shells, said slide pusher means being coupled together through racks and pinions, one of said slide pushers being actuated by means of a crank device.

GEORGE DANIEL HORGAN. 

